Title: "The Ties That Bind Job" (Part Seven)
'Verse: Leverage/Angel
Characters: Entire Leverage team plus Faith and Angel
Rating: PG-13
Word Count: 2711
Summary: Eliot's back in the game...sort of.
Fortunately for Hardison, the private room had a wi-fi connection, allowing him to continue his research with rather more vigor than he would have been able to manage in the hospital waiting room.
Vampires were real. Vampires were real.
That was not okay. Hardison loved the fiction and fantasy as much as the next guy, but his beat was more along the lines of Cylons and TARDISes. If Cylons had been running this drug ring, Hardison would have already been on his way to hook up with Nate and Faith, familial awkwardness be damned.
But vampires? That was just…not okay.
Now that Parker had eaten breakfast and earned a free "I told you so" on every currently conscious member of the team, she was a great deal less fidgety. Somewhere between the cafeteria and Eliot's room, she produced the wooden stake that Angel had apparently given her last night. As far as Hardison was concerned, the weapon was a testament to Angel's "good guy" status, and a definite balm to the hacker's jangled nerves. He and Parker weren't completelydefenseless, at least.
"I told you so."
He looked up from his laptop screen, raising an eyebrow at Parker. The thief was grinning like she was a cat, and she'd just swallowed the biggest damn canary in the history of ever.
"Hope you enjoyed that," he said finally, returning his attention to the laptop screen after his attempt to mimic Nate's "stern" look failed to make her stop grinning. "'Cause Nate only gave you one, and woman, that was one."
He heard Parker shift to a more comfortable position in her chair, uncurling herself just a little and sitting more like a regular human being. Then:
"I told you so."
Hardison tried to glower at her, to no avail as Parker's grin only widened. "You…"
"I did," she countered. "I investigated and I thought it out and I was right." Her voice became suddenly reproachful, and her grin faded into a pout. "And I tried to tell you."
Hardison softened. She had. She really had. Now that he mentally reviewed her behavior in the apartment, it all made sense. The curtains. Faith. The repeated jabbing of two fingers into the side of her neck.
"You were makin' sense," he tried to reassure her. "It's just…some things, it takes a while to process. Even for people like us."
Parker tilted her head to one side, regarding him strangely in the familiar way that told Hardison she was building up to something real. "I thought you'd be the first to believe me."
He blinked. "Really?"
"Yeah. You're always talking about stuff like that. Phone boxes that are actually time machines. Worlds where the monsters always come back after you kill them. Spaceships and aliens with pointy ears. Stuff like that. All the time. Why were vampires so hard for you if you believe in all of that?"
Hardison almost laughed, then sobered – remembering this was Parkerhe was talking to. What the hell – got nothing more important to do than babysit Eliot. Maybe it was time for a little "come to Jesus" for the both of them.
"Parker, I…I likewatching stuff like that, sure. I mean, it's…it's fun, it's awesome. I have seen every single episode of the news series of Doctor Who, and I still…I get chills, man, chills, during every opening scene." He winced, remembering one of their previous cases. "And, c'mon, you know I would have never missed that one briefing if an expansion…the expansion…wasn't involved. I love stuff like that. Outside of doin' what I do for you guys, it's what I do for…for me." He sighed. "But I don't believe in any of it, Parker. I mean…certain things just don't make sense." He paused, smiling slightly. "Unless you're the one talkin' about it, of course."
To his surprise, this statement prompted an answering smile from Parker. "You think I make sense?"
Hardison's grin widened – sensing the serious part of their conversation was over. "You told me so, didn't you?"
Parker nodded cheerfully. "Yep. Um…" She bit her lip. "I still get to tell Nate and Sophie that, right?"
"I'll even let you have another freebie on me," he said, returning his attention to the laptop screen. "Just toss me that, would ya?"
He indicated the stake. Parker tossed it to him, and Hardison went to work trying to identify the grain of the wood on a database he'd found. There were databases for everything these days, and right now he was exceedingly grateful for that fact. Thank you, Wikipedia. Maybe it didn't matter what type of wood you made the stake out of. And maybe it does. Some extra research made a whole lot of sense right about now.
He saw Parker out of the corner of his eye turn her attention back to watching Eliot. A heartbeat later, she gasped and practically levitated out of her seat. "Hardison!"
"What? What?!" Hardison yelped, half-convinced they were being attacked, and tried to simultaneously protect his laptop and raise the stake Parker had given him to ward off their legion of undead attackers. "Lemme tell you, you overgrown bats, I had garlic pizza for dinner last night, and…Eliot!"
He was so stunned by the unexpected sight of movement in the bed that he barely managed to fumble the laptop onto a nearby table before leaping after Parker and hurrying to Eliot's side.
It was true. For the first time in well over twenty-four hours at this point, Eliot Spencer was conscious.
He wasn't fully conscious – that much was clear to Hardison, at least, as they reached his side. The drugs, combined with his extensive injuries, were definitely doing a number on him, but his eyes were open, and he was looking at them.
"Guys…" he slurred. "What…where am…"
"Hospital, man," said Hardison immediately, saving Eliot the effort of finishing. He reached over and tapped the latest empty blood bag. "Meet your new best friend."
Eliot had to swallow before trying to form words again. "Did you..?"
Parker actually laughed. Hardison shook his head. "Naw, man. No. Hell, no. Not us. Out-of-towners."
"Vampire out-of-towners," added Parker helpfully. Then, "From Wolfram and Hart."
Hardison whipped round to stare at her. "Um, Parker? Let's not stress out the man hooked up to the tubes, okay?"
Parker shrugged. "Faith's supposed to handle things. It's not our deal right now."
Hardison had to admit that she did have a point. Not as if Eliot's going out for revenge any time soon, either, he thought. However, when he turned his attention back to the hitter, Eliot didn't look surprised or confused at the news of Wolfram and Hart's involvement. In fact, he had visibly relaxed. Hardison didn't like the idea of anyone he knew relaxing when the infamous law firm's name was mentioned.
"They're vampires," repeated Parker.
Eliot smiled weakly. "Kinda…kinda knew about the vampires, darlin'." He managed to raise a hand and wave distractedly at the bandages on his neck. "Kinda…hard to miss."
"And good ol' W and H hasn't gone after anybody with the ban hammer, so all's quiet on that front for now," added Hardison, deciding that there was no need to add his own worries about the law firm's involvement into the mix.
Eliot's brow furrowed slightly. "Anyone ask about me?"
Hardison nodded. "Yeah, actually. Mr. Angel – he's apparently their latest 'leader of the pack'. Also the one who checked you in here after his partner saved your ass. He asked a whole lot o' questions. Freaked us all the hell out."
"Nate doesn't like him," Parker added helpfully.
"Not…my name, though," Eliot said. "Didn't use…my name."
"Nope," Hardison said. "He thought you were this guy 'Lindsey McDonald.'"
Eliot actually laughed.
It was a weak, breathy, sick sound, but it was a laugh. That was both comforting and deeply worrying. Parker stared fixedly at Eliot's morphine levels, but they were quite low. In fact, she decided, he's probably ready for another dose. Eliot's increased coherency would normally have been a good thing, but Parker did not want her teammate to be in pain just for the sake of conversation. She reached out to jab the button.
"Leave it," ordered Eliot softly. "I'll be okay."
Parker left it, although she wasn't happy about it. "Isn't 'Lindsey' a girl's name?" she asked.
Eliot laughed, but apparently two laughs in less than a minute were more than he could handle in his weakened state. The laugh twisted into a wince of pain, and before he could protest any further Parker jabbed the button on the morphine drip.
She exchanged an anxious glance with Hardison, and they waited until the drugs had time to take effect. The fact that Eliot had not protested out loud when Parker upped his dose was an effective testament to just how truly broken their teammate was. Parker knew Hardison was just as glad as she was that Nate had sent them back here.
It was several moments before Eliot's breathing evened out, and he relaxed against the pillows. Parker immediately picked up the threads of the dropped conversation. "Isn't it?" she asked. "A girl's name?"
"Never tell him that," said Eliot.
Eliot's speech, which had been stronger and more normal sounding a few minutes earlier, was heavy and slurred once more. With a sudden flash of insight, Hardison understood at least one of the reasons Eliot always refused drugs under normal circumstances. Looking at him now, this did not seem like the man who had once run ten blocks with a concussion and broken ribs, and had still been able to deal out plenty of pain and destruction when he reached the top floor of their office.
This man just looked…human.
"This a usual name for you?" Hardison asked, leaning forward a little. "Did I do all that work makin' up those fake IDs for you, when you had one just lyin' around?"
"You might say that."
Hardison scowled. "Man, before that cast comes off your hand, you and I are gonna have words."
He had to attribute Eliot's complete lack of objection to the morphine. Or hell, he thought, maybe he's just that glad to be alive.
It had been touch and go for too long for anybody's peace of mind.
Hardison's brooding was interrupted by the sound of the door being opened. He, Parker, and Eliot looked towards the sound to see a nervous looking nurse.
"I'm…looking for Mr. McDonald," she said, easing into the room. "Or anyone responsible for him, really."
Eliot started struggling to sit up. Parker placed a hand on his chest and kept him down, nodding once at Hardison. Hardison nodded back, then walked towards the nurse.
"Yeah, yeah," he said, smiling at her. "That'd be me. My man just came back to us, y'know, and he's still a bit…y'know." He spun his index finger round his temple a few times, casting significant glances back towards the bed. "Loves his morphine, oh yes he does. Anyway, so, why don't you an' I just step out here an' we'll discuss any questions you have…"
Talking too persistently to give the nurse any time to protest, he shunted her out into the hallway. As he closed the door behind them, however, Parker and Eliot saw him tap his ear.
Eliot's hand instinctively went to his ear, and Parker saw the mild panic on his face when he couldn't find the com. Without saying a word, she produced the ear piece from her pocket and handed it to him. He accepted it with a short, grateful nod, and fitted it back in place just in time for Hardison to start talking.
"Now, what seems to be the problem?"
"I'm afraid we've uncovered a problem with Mr. McDonald's identification."
"Oh, yeah? Well, this ain't exactly the first time we've been in an' out of white rooms. These little mess ups happen all the time…"
Hardison suddenly stopped talking. Parker thought she heard a faint rustle of paper in the ensuing silence, which went on for several uncomfortable seconds. She saw that Eliot was preparing to pull out his IV…and she was prepared to let him…before their teammate started talking again. They recognized his "com voice", and instantly froze in place, the better to hear.
"Well, well, now look at this. Do my eyes deceive me, or is this a coroner's report for a man by the name of Lindsey McDonald?"
Parker had never seen anything approaching the expression of shock that flashed across Eliot's face as Hardison spoke. It was there and gone in less than a second, but it had been real, and she'd seen it – even though Eliot definitely hadn't meant for her to.
She wasn't about to bring it up, however, because they suddenly had bigger problems. Hardison was still talking, resorting to every single trick in his limited repertoire, in order to try and keep the nurse in the hallway as long as possible. Eliot had gone back to work pulling the IVs out of his body. Parker bit her lip, not liking how much it was obviously hurting him.
Luckily, she had a part to play as well. She toed the nearest chair into place below a seemingly random ceiling tile. Stepping up on the vinyl covered seat, she shifted the square out of the way and reached up into the space to retrieve what she'd left there hours earlier.
By the time she tossed Eliot his change of clothes, he'd freed himself of the network of needles and monitors. There was no time for modesty, and Parker had never seen the point anyway. Eliot focused on getting changed, and Parker went to work rigging up the harness she'd dragged down with the clothes.
Getting him into the harness was more difficult than it should have been, because of the broken ribs. This time the morphine in Eliot's system was definitely working in their favor. Parker managed to rig him up without causing him too much pain, and then he clambered out the window and waited for her to lower him into the alley below.
She was in the process of doing just that when Hardison hurried back into the room, slamming the door behind him and locking it for good measure.
"Did what I could, but she was lookin' awful shifty when she left. I figure we've got about five minutes before some nice young men in clean white coats come to talk to us next. How's it goin'?"
Parker watched as Eliot's feet touched down on the ground. He went to work struggling out of the harness. She winched it up once he had, and motioned for Hardison. He gulped, looking deeply nervous, but allowed her to strap him in and lower him down after Eliot.
It took half the time for Parker to lower herself down than it had to lower Hardison and Eliot. Boys, she thought grumpily, touching down neatly and pulling the harness after her once she had. She kept her thoughts to herself, however; Eliot in particular was in no shape to hear her complain.
"Parker, what the hell are you doing?"
As one, they winced. Parker was privately amazed that it had taken Nate this long to comment, but he'd probably been afraid of distracting Hardison from distracting the nurse. She had to commend Hardison once again, though, for his technical genius. She'd thought that their escape had been quiet – it had never occurred to her that the coms could even pick up the zip of her harness line.
"Escaping," she replied, knowing that Nate was still waiting for an answer.
"Yes, I gathered that. Hardison – what's this about a 'coroner's report'?"
"Your guess is as good as ours," said Hardison with a shrug. "We ain't the ones who signed Eliot in using a dead man's name, after all. Talk to Mr. Black-on-Black if you wanna know the details."
They heard Nate sigh. "I intend to. This job has gotten way out of hand. Is Eliot there?"
"Here, boss," said Eliot.
"How are you?"
"Upright. I'd call that progress."
"So would I. Get back to the loft. We'll rest up and regroup there, then see what has to be done."
"Right," agreed the three.
